Formation Consultation Services is pleased to offer a variety of articles that have been generated by us over the years. All the articles focus on the subject of human formation from a wide variety of perspectives.      In the spirit of generosity and trust, FCS offers these materials freely without cost for those seeking self-awareness and increased intimacy with God through the dimension of human formation. These materials are not meant to be resold or to be used directly or indirectly for financial gain or profit in anyway. Beginning the Formative Journey 011 Structured Autobiography This is an older version of our Structured Autobiography. It contains the instructions and guide for writing one's autobiography in preparation for the Formative Process of Awareness. Our participants presently use an innovative and very different format for writing their Structured Autobiography than the one presented here. 012 Storytelling This 8-page article discusses how storytelling enhances the initial and ongoing formation process through self-reflection. 013 Journal Writing An 11-page article details how to use journal writing in a common sense manner to grow in self-knowledge. 014 Formative Reflective Reading This 19-page article provides concrete suggestions on how to approach, construct and guide a reflective reading program for self or for formandi. 015 Formative Process of Awareness: A Discussion This 24-page articles describes in detail the process of the Formative Process of Awareness which is based on writing one's Structured Autobiography. 016 Formation Vision This is a 62-page manual detailing aspects of Formation Consultation Services vision on formation. On Being Reflective 021 Sacramental Consciousness In this 21-page article, Sacramental Consciousness: An Access to the Sacred Horizon, we take up and dwelling with this theme to make explicit what is implicit in the experience and phenomenon of sacramental consciousness. 022 Spirituality and the Art of Disciplined Presence Within this 13-page article the author explores how the usual pathway in which the Holy is manifested to us is through and within the reality of our everyday lives. 023 Reflective Living This 17-page article discusses how a reflective life approach is essential for full human development and formation. 024 Re-Searching the Sacred in Everyday Life Based on interviews with 200 people, this 19-page article dwells on the phenomenon and discusses the practical cultivation of the sacred in everyday life. 025 Reflective Leadership Reflective Leadership through the Cultivation of the Human Spirit is a 12-page article. Leadership flows out of one's spirit. A cultivated spirit, as well as a neglected spirit, directly influences the style and the manner by which one leads. 26a What Is Experience? Reflective Living involves extracting wisdom from everyday experience. This 20-page article investigates this phenomenon. "If we want to explore what it means to live reflectively - to take up everyday life experience as our sacred text - then we must first explore what we mean when we talk about experience " 26b Consciousness This 12-page article examines consciousness, being present and attentive in the here and now. The author, Vinnie Bilotta, elaborates on his walks with his dog, Fred, in order to describe, clarify and illuminate what it means to be conscious and present within ordinary everyday life. Ongoing Formation Themes 031 The Experience of Being Hectic: Some Reflections Within this 17-page article the author delves deeply into the common contemporary experience of hecticness. Themes of security, approval, success, expectations, inability to say no, etc. influence significantly one's motivation for continuing a hectic lifestyle. 032 Originality, Ordinary Intimacy & the Spiritual Life This brief article of 6 pages reminds the reader about being present to ordinary everyday situations of intimacy that are readily available throughout our day. 035 Pride - An Obstacle Along the Formative Journey Within this 14-page article, the author discusses how pride in its many everyday manifestations is a constant obstacle along the formative journey. 036 Sexual Emergence as an Access to the Spiritual Life In and through our sexual emergence, we are called to discover who we are. God invites us to own our incompleteness and our yearning to be intimate with others. Our sexual feelings awaken us to the deeper desire in us to transcend ourselves and enter into union with others. 037 An Experience of the Desert in the Gospel of Mark: This 11-page paper discusses the desert experience to which we are called to transform the heart, which needs to be softened so that it may receive the Word of God. 038 Guilty for Betraying Who I Am This 12-page article tries to make some sense of the experience of guilt in our everyday lives. 039 Happiness A Path of Letting Go and Surrendering This 13-page paper discusses the interior transformation that Jesus asks of us as rooted in the process of meeting ourselves, accepting ourselves, and appreciating ourselves as children of God, that is, of growing into a deeper acknowledgment of who we truly are. 052 The Formative Dimension of the Lived Human Body in This 16-page article, The Formative Dimension of the Lived Human Body in the Spiritual Life, intends to go beyond the everyday, taken-for-granted attitude toward the body. The experience of the lived body reveal itself as an access to the presence of God in everyday life. 053 Matthew An Invitation to Practice Humility The intention of this 10-page paper is to take up the theme of humility as it presents itself in the Gospel of Matthew. 054 Affirmation of the Vocation Director This 10-page paper discusses the importance of vocation directors and formators to deal with their own lives, to grow deeper into an understanding of their own lives. 056 Transition: Being-In-Between This 13-page article discusses transition from a variety of perspectives: formative approach, control, rootlessness, permissiveness, narcissism, and in-betweenness. 057 Slow Dancing at Mid-Life This 11-page article discusses how the early fast dance of life must be replaced by a slower, more intimate and personal dance at mid-life. This new dance gives depth, gravity and meaning to one's life. 058 The Addictive Organization This 19-page paper comments on the book by Anne Wilson Schaef, The Addictive Organization. 059 Lived Fidelity to the Sacred This 12-page paper, Lived Fidelity to the Sacred, Responding to My Hunger for Depth, explores the holiness of all reality as a fundamental dimension of the spiritual life and an essential aspect of growth in wholeness as a person. 060 Formative Dimension of the Lived Human Body This 19-page article The Formative Dimension of the Lived Human Body in the Spiritual Life discusses that to grow into the spiritual life, we need to inhabit our bodies in such a way that the sacred will be able to touch us and communicate to us. 061 Karen Horney: A Reflection on Pride This 21-page article, Karen Horney: A Reflection on Pride and Its Relationship to Psychological and Spiritual Development, continues the author's reflection on the phenomenon of pride as an obstacle to the spiritual and psychological life. 062 Health and Dysfunction This 11-page paper discusses health and dysfunction from an assessment perspective. 063 Codependency No More This 9-page paper provides a reflection on the book, Codependent No More, by Melodie Beattie. 070 Thou Shalt Not Be Aware, Alice Miller This is a 26-page reflection on Thou Shalt Not Be Aware by Alice Miller. 071 Reflections on the Drama of the Gifted Child This 13-page paper is a Foundational Formative Reflection on The Drama of the Gifted Child, by Alice Miller. Foundational Formative Understanding of Human Person 401 The Vital Dimension of Self Part one of three parts. 402 The Functional Dimension of Self Part two of three parts. 403 The Spirit Dimension of Self Part three of three parts. Foundational Approach to Human Unfolding 501 Stress This 9-page article discusses the various dynamics of stress and its impact. 502 Energy This 6-page paper explores the flow and blockage of energy within the body and emotions. 503 Breathing This 6-page article elaborates on breathing and its connection with spirit. 504 Character Armor This 4-page article discusses the unconscious process by which energy becomes blocked through chronic muscular tension. 505 Pleasure This 8-page paper discusses pleasure as a spiritual phenomenon involving total surrender to the rhythm of life. Pleasure results from our willingness and ability to become totally engaged body, mind and spirit in the everydayness of our life, with its ups and downs, its joys and disappointments, its achievements and struggles. 506 Grounding This 7-page article discusses grounding as a fundamental and integral part of our human experience. The Five Character Structures 701 The Schizoid Character This is the first in a five part series. 702 The Oral Character This is the second in a five part series. 703 The Narcissistic Character This is the third in a five part series. 704 The Masochistic Character This is the fourth in a five part series. 705 The Rigid Character This is the fifth in a five part series.

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